Clark saw his five-shot lead come crashing down at the turn but steadied himself to prevail in the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs
What was thought to be a runaway victory turned into a hotly contested affair for a period on Sunday at the 2026 BMW Championship as Wyndham Clark did just enough on the back nine to claim his third victory of the season at Bellerive Country Club. Clark sat atop the leaderboard after each round, ultimately including the most important one, as he finished the week at 17 under, three clear of Patrick Cantlay and four in front of Rory McIlroy, with whom he shared the final pairing on Sunday.
Clark held a five-stroke lead after 54 holes — his second advantage of at least that many strokes after three rounds this season. Much like his victorious performance at the U.S. Open, though, Clark kept this tournament interesting during the final round as he gave up three shots through the first 10 holes, lost the entirety of his advantage and did not convert his first birdie of the afternoon until the par-3 16th.
That proved to be all Clark needed to break the tie and zoom past McIlroy with a conversion from just outside 16 feet. He added birdies on the 17th and 18th, storming home in impressive fashion to clinch his victory. Before penciling that first circle on his scorecard at the 16th, Clark wrote in three squares, dropping from 17 under to 14 under and squandering the entirety of his substantial lead.
“It was weird. I wasn’t really nervous. I was kind of, like, out of it. I was just making dumb bogeys,” Clark told CBS after the round. “Can’t believe I wasn’t making anything on the greens. Kept trying to get myself going. When I made the putt on the par 3, it kind of got me back — and I jumped right back into it. It was fun, actually. As much as I would have loved to run away with this, it was fun getting the juices going and really feel the angst coming down at the end.”
Clark is now tied with Chris Gotterup and Matt Fitzpatrick for the most victories on the PGA Tour this season with three. His career total climbs to six, consisting of two major championships, two signature events, a playoff event and the CJ Cup Byron Nelson this season, in which he usurped Si Woo Kim and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler with a final-round 60.
Here are grades for some other notable names on the leaderboard at the 2026 BMW Championship.
2. Patrick Cantlay (-14): He had his chances. Cantlay touched the lead for just a moment on No. 11 when Clark made a bogey behind him, and he had yet to finish the hole. Unfortunately, the 2021 FedEx Cup champion carded a double bogey on the short par 4 when he finally tapped in as he dropped two behind. Cantlay was superb from tee to green, ranking first in strokes gained approach, but looked extremely uncomfortable once the putter touched his hands. It has been the problem child all year, and this week it cost him more than five strokes to the field and potentially a trophy. The good news is that it didn’t cost him a spot in the Tour Championship, and three straight birdies to close his final round rocketed him into solo 2nd. Grade: A
3. Rory McIlroy (-13): After beating just two players in Memphis, McIlroy managed to lose to just one in St. Louis. He scored efficiently on Saturday while hitting only four fairways to sneak his way into the final pairing on Sunday, where he was the clear fan favorite. McIlroy hit one fairway on the front nine, turned in 2 under and caught Clark by the time the two walked off the green on the par-4 11th. McIlroy had his chances to seize the outright lead by himself coming down the stretch, but burnt edges and a couple of lip-outs were ultimately the difference. He was in the process of closing strong (bogey-free form Nos. 8-16 with three birdies) but penciled in a square the 17th to knock himself out of contention.
“Obviously a big improvement on last week,” McIlroy told CBS after the round. “I don’t think I can be too disappointed. I’m probably not playing well enough to be disappointed I didn’t win. I had my chances on the back nine. I started to hit some good shots, hit a lot of good putts that didn’t go in. Wyndham stepped up when he needed to … the way he played the last three holes, he showed a lot of character there.” Grade: A-
T7. Robert MacIntyre (-10): With all the chatter about the bubble, MacIntyre’s name seemed to have gotten lost in the shuffle until it did not. The Scotsman signed for the lowest round on Sunday with his 5-under 65 to move from No. 36 in the standings to inside the cutoff point, ensuring he qualified for the Tour Championship. As a full-time member of the PGA Tour, MacIntyre is now a perfect 3 of 3 playing his way into the season finale with this instance marking the second in a row in which he has without claiming a trophy.
“It’s good to extend the season on the PGA Tour an extra week,” MacIntyre said. “Satisfying round of golf today. It was absolutely beautiful. A bit disappointed with the bogey I made, but [my caddie] just kept telling me, ‘There’s going to be plenty of chances the way you’re playing.’ And the way I was shaping into some of the pins, hitting good distances [was solid] — just to score the way I’ve scored in the time that I needed it.” Grade: A-
T12. Scottie Scheffler (-7): The world No. 1 revealed after walking off the 72nd green that he was dealing with hand, foot and mouth disease this week. With blisters in his throat and on his hands, making it difficult to grip the club, Scheffler still managed to find his way around the top 15 by week’s end. Scheffler noted that if he were not so stubborn, he would have withdrawn to heal up more quickly for the Tour Championship. Feeling better as the tournament progressed, his game appeared to follow suit.
“I felt better as the week went on,” Scheffler said. “I got sick Monday night. That was probably the most frustrating part. Like I just, you know, playing really good golf, and you come out of the heat and get a little adrenaline, sometimes your body kind of crashes. Then it hit me pretty good all week. I’m still not 100% now, but I’ll get some rest now, and hopefully, that will help.” Grade: B+
T37. Rickie Fowler (-1): For the second straight year, the BMW Championship was not kind to Fowler. Entering the week as the bubble boy in the FedEx Cup standings, Fowler fell outside the required cutoff and was never able to recover. The fan favorite has only made the Tour Championship once in the 2020s, that coming in 2023 when he last won and was a member of the U.S. team. The seasons as a whole marked another step in the right direction, but falling short means the world No. 44 will have to sweat an invitation coming from a certain place that plays every year in early April. Grade: D
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